Oil spill claims process for churches and nonprofits still undecided

View full size(AP Photo/Dave Martin)In this June 30, 2010 photo, pastor Dan Brown of the Anchor Assembly of God in Bayou La Batre, Ala. talks about the claim that his church filed with BP PLC stemming from lost revenue because of the Deepwater Horizon incident. Months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and its well started gushing oil, the British petroleum giant says it has yet to decide how to handle claims filed by religious groups and other charitable organizations that are endangered because people can no longer afford to contribute.

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. -- God only knows what will happen to
churches and other nonprofit organizations who say they are struggling
for survival because of the Gulf oil spill crisis.

Months after
the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and its well started gushing oil, the
British petroleum giant says it has yet to decide how to handle claims
filed by religious groups and other charitable organizations that are
endangered because people can no longer afford to contribute.

Pastor
Dan Brown prays BP PLC comes up with a solution quickly: He said he
filed a $50,000 claim last month over lost revenues at Anchor Assembly
of God. His small, storefront church outlived Hurricane Katrina and is
now struggling because of the oil crisis.

Shrimpers and oystermen
left jobless by the oil spill in this seafood town can barely afford to
feed their families and pay their boat loans, much less give money to
their church, Brown said. Giving and tithing is down by $12,000 over the
last few weeks, he said, and the oil spill will cost another $38,000 in
lost revenues over the next year, making up the total of the church's
claim.

"You can't tithe what you don't have," said Brown, whose
congregation operates a food bank and gives away bread each Sunday to
help struggling families. "We're fighting for our lives just like a
business."

So are environmental groups and community service
agencies that have either begun feeling a drop in revenues or fear one
as the oil crisis drags on.

Darryl Willis, head of claims for BP,
said Tuesday he was unaware of any claims filed by churches or
nonprofits, and he doesn't know how such a case will be handled.

More
than 42,000 checks totaling $130 million have been written to
businesses and individuals, and BP repeatedly has said it would pay any
legitimate claim linked to losses caused by the massive oil spill. But
Willis said nonprofits are a gray area.

"I get the impact, people
not working or being on this sort of fixed income during this period,"
Willis said during an interview. "(But) I don't know what the answer is.
I would test the system and let us work through that process."

Brown's
church, which draws about 70 people to worship on a good Sunday, might
just be that test case. The preacher said his church filed its claim
with BP on June 18 and is still waiting on an answer.

Mobile
Baykeeper, a secular nonprofit that monitors coastal conditions and
water quality in Mobile Bay, may soon be in the same line.

Casi
Callaway, executive director of the organization, said donations from
outside the coastal region have covered the group's $20,000 in expenses
related to the oil spill so far. But membership renewals are way down,
and she fears contributions will dry up once the oil spill crisis drops
out of the headlines.

"Right now we're getting donations from all
over the country, Canada, everywhere," said Callaway. "But we don't know
about our 4,000 members and their financial condition. We're very
worried about the long term, what it's going to look like."

Callaway
said Mobile Baykeeper might file a claim soon, but the United Way of
Baldwin County is waiting to see what happens during its fall
fundraising campaign. The agency relies heavily on tourist-dependent
businesses that are suffering because of a sharp drop in visitors.
Executive director Rebecca Byrne is apprehensive.

The
organization, which funds 43 community service agencies, raised
$1,038,750 last year but was still short of its $1.1 million goal during
the depths of the recession. This year could be even tougher, but Byrne
is waiting to seek compensation from BP.

"I've got to document a
loss, and at this point I can't do it. We knew last year with the
economy it was going to be a tough time, and this year is a double
whammy," she said. "I hope I don't have to file a claim, but I might."

The
110-church Mobile Baptist Association isn't even thinking about a
claim, despite a sharp decline in revenues both for the organization and
its 25 member churches in the coastal regional, according to C. Thomas
Wright, executive director of missions.

Churches that abide by
biblical stewardship principles don't need help from BP because they
often find "miraculous provision" for their needs, he said. There also
are more practical problems to seeking compensation from BP, he said.

"In
an already declining economy, documentation that the current reduction
is directly caused by the spill is difficult and time-consuming with no
promise of return," he said.

The Coastal Mississippi Healthcare
Fund Inc., which funds indigent care and helps employees of the Singing
River Hospital System in Gautier, Miss., isn't losing money so far -- the
oil has barely touched Mississippi in comparison to Alabama and
Louisiana. Spokesman Richard Lucas said there's no way to say if it
might file a claim if the worst happens, partly because of confusion
over the claims process itself.

"There is just so much uncertainty
over all of this," he said.

Willis, the BP claims chief, said
organizations that need help shouldn't hesitate to ask for it by
submitting a claim, even if the outcome is uncertain.

"I would say
to the person or the organization, file one," Willis said.